Material testing is important to ensure the mechanical integrity of various pieces of equipment subject to harsh operating conditions and to maintain proper safety margins for continued use of the equipment. Such testing frequently requires removal of surface and/or subsurface samples of materials such as the metals comprising such equipment. Samples of sufficient size to complete standard material testing techniques are acquired according to destructive (or partially-destructive) methods whereby material is removed from the equipment rendering it inoperable. Because many types of equipment are compromised for their purposes by the material removed (in terms of, e.g., structural integrity, safety factors, loss of impermeability to fluid), such testing requires downtime and substantial repairs or decommissioning of the equipment.
In an example, pressure vessels and storage tanks degrade over time. Depending on the materials stored therein, environmental conditions, maintenance and usage cycles, and many other variables, such equipment may remain serviceable for decades, but can potentially become unsafe much sooner. While the internal and external surfaces can provide some indication of serviceability, deeper samples taken from the inside of the container are typically required to fully assess its structural integrity, e.g., tensile strength and fracture toughness. Existing techniques capable of removing adequate samples typically require at least temporary decommissioning of the pressure vessel, removal of a section of its walls, then extensive weld repair to restore the removed section if the vessel is to be brought back to service after testing is complete. Such processes are labor-intensive, expensive, slow, and cause significant downtime and waste.
Many other types of equipment constructed of metals or other materials are also unable to be tested without substantial disruption to their operation and in turn the operation of entities employing such equipment.